Zombie Science
How parasites turn animals into "zombies"--and why we are so fascinated with these creatures
How Do Animals Become Zombies? Instant Egghead [Video]
Scientific American explains how animals--and possibly humans--can become real-life zombies
Zombie Creatures: What Happens When Animals Are Possessed by a Parasitic Puppet Master? [Slide Show]
From fungi to flies, some parasitic species have figured out how to control their host's behavior to get what they need. See what happens when bugs go really bad
Zombie Insects: A Q&A about a Sinister Virus
A bug expert discusses a sinister virus that causes gypsy moth caterpillars to self-destruct
Zombie Flies May Be Killing Honeybees
Scientists have uncovered a surprising clue to the causes of colony collapse disorder
Undead-End: Fungus That Controls Zombie-Ants Has Own Fungal Stalker
A specialized parasite fungus can control ants' behavior. But that fungus also faces its own deadly, specialized parasites
The American Fascination With Zombies
Ed note: As Halloween rapidly approaches in the US, AiP will be exploring superstitions, beliefs, and the things that go bump in the night. This post originally appeared on AiP on May 17th, 2011, in response to Zombie Awareness Month—oh, it's real all right...
Fungus Makes Zombie Ants Do All the Work
A tropical fungus has adapted to infect ants and force them to chomp, with surprising specificity, into perfectly located leaves before killing them and taking over their bodies
Live Chat: Zombies and the Chemistry of "Bath Salts," with SA Blogger Cassie Rodenberg
Rodenberg, who blogs about addiction and mental illness for SA, will provide the straight dope on the latest media frenzy over so-called bath salts and people who have been arrested for allegedly eating victims' flesh...
Are Zombie Bees Infiltrating Your Neighborhood?
Update Sept. 11, 2015: ZomBee Watch, a citizen science project, reported on September 1, 2015 that one of its participants, Joseph Naughton, discovered and captured a honey bee parasitized by the zombie fly Apocephalus borealis on his porch in New York...
Your average, everyday zombie
“The purpose of man's life...is to become an abject zombie who serves a purpose he does not know, for reasons he is not to question.” - Ayn Rand Of all the cryptic, creepy and cruel creatures that emerge each Halloween, few captivate our imaginations like the living dead...
Instant Zombie - Just Add Salt.
Those of you who follow me on Google+, facebook or twitter might have seen this neat little video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwvaEpYbUIM Yeah, it freaked me out, too.
Master Manipulators of the Micro-World
Parasites are perhaps the greatest master manipulators out there in nature. Even though they are tiny, their numbers are mighty and they have a huge impact on individuals and even entire ecosystems...
Protozoa Could Be Controlling Your Brain
Some protozoa infect the brain of their host, shaping its behavior in ways most suited to the pathogen, even if it leads to the suicide of the host
Zombies Invade Google Campus
She looked perfectly normal. But what was she doing roaming around at night on the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif?She’d been drawn out of her home, following the light, and now was taking mincing steps across a white bed sheet...
Are Zombies nocturnal?
For Halloween, I thought I'd republish this old post of mine from July 1, 2010. Blame 'Night of the Living Dead' for this, but many people mistakenly think that zombies are nocturnal, going around their business of walking around town with stilted gaits, looking for people whose brains they can eat, only at night...
Revenge of the Zombifying Wasp
As it is Halloween, I am republishing my old post (from February 04, 2006, reposted on July 1, 2010): I was quite surprised that Carl Zimmer, in research for his book Parasite Rex, did not encounter the fascinating case of the Ampulex compressa (Emerald Cockroach Wasp) and its prey/host the American Cockroach ( Periplaneta americana , see also comments on Aetiology and Ocellated).In 1999, I went to Oxford, UK, to the inaugural Gordon Conference in Neuroethology and one of the many exciting speakers I was looking forward to seeing was Fred Libersat...
